


Congratulations

by Talinor



Category: Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, my favorite writing combination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8659066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talinor/pseuds/Talinor
Summary: "Keith, if I don't make it out of here... I want you to lead Voltron." 

 
Keith grapples with that choice. Lance tries to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in like 2 hours instead of working on the new Infection chapter whoops 
> 
> Title's from the cut song from Hamilton that inspired this- Congratulations. I snuck a lil easily noticeable line from the song in
> 
> enjoy!

_"Keith, if I don't make it out of here,"_ the ragged voice was still clear as day in his mind. It still made his heart lodge in his throat to remember that night. He didn't want to. He tried his hardest to squash it down in any way he could- tending to his actual lion (or trying to, before Red eventually picks him up by his high collar and takes him back to Shiro's old hangar.), training (for hours on end to avoid hearing those words in his murky dreams), and on a good day actually trying to bond with his new lion.

It felt horribly wrong to think of Black as that.

_"...I want you to lead Voltron."_

_Why?_ He wanted to scream at the training drone. _Why me? Why not Allura? She actually knows how to lead people- I'm barely getting used to the_ concept.

The drone barely stood, but Keith kept going. Each relentless hit just brought up more and more reasons why he should not have been made the new Black Paladin. Why he would never even be half as good as Shiro was.

_Thwack._

Keith wasn't a patient person.

_Thwack._

He had no idea how to lead people.

_Thwack._

Just the idea of it, of his fellow Paladins having to look to him for a plan in a hairy situation, made him feel sick to his stomach.

_Thwack._

Or maybe that was the sleep deprivation and the fact he's barely eaten since Shiro's death. He's neglectful of his own basic needs.

_Thwack._

How could he be expected to take care of others when he couldn't even take care of himself?

With an untamable yell, he issued the final blow. The drone finally dissipated, as if it was never there in the first place. As did its arms, which had lain a few feet away on the floor after he cut them off in his little venting session. Made it a lot easier to just vent out all his frustration. 

Exhaustion hung heavily on his bones, his skin and shirt slicked with sweat in a pretty cold room. According to the electronic clock on the entrance wall Pidge and Hunk hooked up to show Earth time at the area around the Garrison, it was way too late for him to be up. Or was it too early? He didn't really give a damn either way. Either way, he knew he probably shouldn't be up right now.

Especially since tomorrow (later today, technically) is Voltron's first mission since the wormhole incident- getting a replacement paladin Red picked out for herself. Their first mission since Shiro died. The first mission since Red rejected him and Black accepted him as her new pilot. He knew he shouldn't be up; he should be sleeping and saving up his energy for tomorrow.

But another thing that would probably make him a terrible leader- he never did what he knew he was supposed to.

So he caught his breath, stood up, and opened his mouth to tell the Altean VI in charge of the training deck to start up another training level. Maybe kick it up a notch and make it more challenging.

But a familiar, yet strangely serious, voice piping up from the door made him stop. Made his blood feel like ice stuck in place in his veins.

"Keith," he didn't need to turn to see who it was, but he did anyway. He was met with the sight of Lance with messy hair in his pajamas and Blue Lion slippers (that no one really knew how he got in the first place) leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. The hard glare those deep blue eyes pointed at him was new, and cut through him like a knife. "What the hell are you still doing up?"

"Training," he tried to keep himself steady despite the lightheadedness creeping up on him. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Your yelling interrupted my beauty sleep," he said. Keith couldn't help but furrow his brows at that. Didn't Lance wear headphones to sleep? He knew he might've been louder than necessary, but he couldn't have been that loud. "So I wanted to ask why you aren't getting any."

"None of your business," he said. It was ruder than necessary, but he just was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. He didn't want the pity he saw in everyone's eyes when he had to tell them what happened. Training was easier than conversation, less complicated.

Yet Lance didn't leave. He actually moved closer. "If it affects our team," Lance made it over to where Keith was standing. "Your team," he jabbed at Keith's chest with one finger at the word. "Then it is my business."

He sighed. "I'm fine, Lance."

"No, you're not!" Lance said incredulously. "You're up at ass-o-clock beating up training drones without arms! If that's your definition of 'fine', then I don't think I wanna see your definition of 'actually not fine'." He put a hand on Keith's shoulder. "I just wanna know what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Keith moved his shoulder away from the consoling hand. "I already told you- I'm fine."

"And I already told you," his tone was chiding and patient. Just like Shiro used to be. It made him feel like a moody and stubborn child. Which was kinda what he was acting like."You're not. Please," that one word surprisingly made his heart hurt. "I just wanna help."

"I don't think you can." As soon as he uttered the words, he knew they were a mistake. Lance wasn't one to back down from any challenge- especially not one from Keith.

"Try me."

He let out a sigh of frustration. "You don't know what it's like, okay?" He let his mouth run on autopilot, yet another mistake. "To look up to someone for years and then they- they just _leave!_ And everyone's looking to you to fill their spot, but you know you can't, and you know you'll never be as good as they were, a-and..." He trailed off much too late. His vision blurred with tears threatening to fall.

After a few seconds of tense silence where Keith wished for an airlock he could jump out of, a sound he wasn't expecting filled the air. A sound that caught him purely off-guard.

Lance was laughing.

Keith just poured his heart out to him, and Lance was unabashedly _laughing at him._

His chest constricted. Slowly building anger started to boil. "What's so funny?"

Lance's gasps for breath were shaky. Tears streamed down his face- whether they were from laughing too hard or actual crying, he couldn't tell at first. He was practically trembling when he put his forehead on Keith's shoulder, his laughing devolving into what was definitely I'm-crying-but-I'm-trying-to-stop-it crying.

This time, Keith didn't move his shoulder away. Just stood stock still and awkwardly waited until Lance calmed down. His anger turned into confusion at the sudden turn of events.

It took a long minute for him to calm down enough to reply to Keith's question. The soft, vulnerable voice he heard caught him off guard once again.

"You finally get it."

Keith raised a brow at that. "Get what?"

Lance hiccuped, a sound Keith would only describe as 'adorable' in the safety of his own thoughts. "What-what you just described? Exactly how I felt about you back at the Garrison."

Oh.

_Oh._

"...Really?" He asked, despite knowing the answer.

He felt Lance's head nod against his shoulder. "To the word, mójol."

If that was an insult, he deserved it. He felt like an absolute idiot. Like he had to invent a new kind of stupid to be where he was right now.

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Lance's slightly taller frame. He waited for Lance to pull away, maybe call him something else in Spanish. Honestly, he wouldn't blame him if he did.

But he didn't move away.

Instead, he shifted slightly closer. Keith could feel hands resting themselves on his lower back.

Lance was still gasping slightly, so he did what just felt... natural to do. He rubbed small, soothing circles with his fingertips into Lance's back, murmuring words of encouragement into his ear until his breathing finally evened out.

Keith was the one to break away from the hug. "I'm sorry," he said, looking into Lance's still slightly puffy eyes. "I didn't mean-"

"Nah, man," Lance shrugged it off with a weak smile. "It's fine." He looked down at the floor for a moment, awkward silence hanging between the two. Lance rubbed at his eyes, then looked back up at Keith. "But seriously though, we should probably get some sleep."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, probably." He hesitated a little bit before saying something else. "Wanna, uhm... walk back together?"

Lance's smile only grew at the question. "I think I'd like that, mullet-boy."

And in that moment, Keith felt something he hadn't felt in a while.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on tumblr: squishy--squish
> 
> comments are always appreciated!


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